No, it'll be the same as its "bigger brothers." It does not have the innards that cell phone require/use to send SMS messages. You'll be able to use iMessage (to talk to other Apple devices), however. But - it's not a phone and so can't be used as one.

There are, however, several apps in the App Store that can be used to send texts.

Would be nice to receive SMS messages etc .. Is it using the mini SIM or the new one like the iPhone 5? How about T-mobile? Know if we can use T-Mobile? Seems it works with everyone else ... All the other iPads could use T-Mobile but it was SLOW ...

Would be nice to receive SMS messages etc .. Is it using the mini SIM or the new one like the iPhone 5? How about T-mobile? Know if we can use T-Mobile? Seems it works with everyone else ... All the other iPads could use T-Mobile but it was SLOW ...

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There are quite a few apps that will assign your iPad a phone number so it can send/receive SMS and in many cases, act as a phone as well.
A stand alone phone app that I like because it allows you to use it as Google Voice forwarding number is called "Whistle".
Used to be completely free but there is a small (in app?) charge for it now. No texting abilities in Whistle.
A stand alone texting app that I like the best for iPad is "Textfree for iPad". It assigns you a real phone number and works pretty flawlessly, and it's free.
There are versions of Textfree written for iPhones that also allow calls, and one even offers voicemail - but there is an in app charge for minutes when used as a phone.
Textfree now makes a Pinger app, but I don't care for Pinger because it requires access to your contacts (something I won't usually allow an app to do).
HTH

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